Inside Racing

Inside Racing

The client:

What we did:

Racing Victoria wanted to get ahead of the pack, and asked us to help revamp their official monthly magazine/racing calendar. We shot out of the gates with a creative approach that saw RV and SMG both finish as winners.

The Challenge

Racing Victoria wanted to overhaul their monthly magazine/racing calendar to provide a more polished, interesting and user-friendly publication for racing participants and fans, punters and people involved in the racing industry.

The Process

As a custom publishing job, this magazine would have to take into account the requirements of RV to promote racing’s important economic, sporting and social role in the community. It would be two parts: the approximately 40-page editorial section at the front, followed by the approximately 80-page industry information section. SMG would also have to edit, design and place all RV-provided material in the industry section, with proofreading and late changes—inevitable in such a big, moving industry that races every day.

The Outcome

SMG published our first edition of Inside Racing in August 2010 (the racing season begins on 1 August). Inside Racing is produced by old SMG war-horses Stephen Howell (editor) and Danny Power (who also edits Inside Breeding), with Geoff Slattery overseeing.

Inside Racing is regarded as the industry bible by participants, especially trainers, and has been enthusiastically received since SMG revamped it.

Each year in July or August, SMG ‘piggybacks’ one edition of Inside Racing with a similar-style, high-quality magazine, Inside Breeding, which promotes the all-important breeding side of the thoroughbred industry. This magazine is free to subscribers and to breeders in other states—like Inside Racing, it is Victoria-centric but has Australia-wide and even international material, sales and interest.